Afternoon, folks! Sorry for our absence yesterday. Mrs. Bits (a.k.a. Sarah) had a minor surgery on Tuesday morning that was nothing major, went very well, and from which she’s recovering nicely today, but still took up all my attention yesterday as you can imagine. So thanks for your patience.

Here at The Bits today, Doogan has checked in with his latest Doogan’s Queue column running down this week’s latest in Blu-ray and DVD. Russell Hammond has also updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray and DVD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links, pre-orders through which help to support The Bits.

Meanwhile today, we’re starting to see the PR hype begin for Comic-Con related Blu-ray and DVD announcements, so let’s get right into talking about it… [Read on here…]

Howdy folks! July is cooking on by, isn’t it? Here we are at the mid-way point and it feels like it was June yesterday. But never mind that, you’re not here to hear about my thoughts on time passage dynamics. You’re here to see what’s streetin’ this week. Not much it turns out, but there are some choice cuts. let’s check them out, shall we? [Read on here…]

All right, first up today I wanted to let you all know that although The Bits is going to be at San Diego Comic-Con this month, a combination of personal/real-life business and other factors means we aren’t doing our regular Blu-ray and DVD panel event this year. Frankly, I think many of us just needed a break from the usual “demise of discs” commiseration, and wanted a chance instead to go down to the Con and just enjoy it in a more relaxed way.

That said, all the usual Bits suspects will be down in San Diego on Thursday and Friday. Before and after the Con, I’ll be reporting here at The Bits on all the BD-related news. You can expect details on TV Batman, lot of new Shout! and Scream Factory titles, the upcoming Twin Peaks BD set and much more. [Read on here…]

Tim has a new Dailies column to kick things off here at The Bits for you today, featuring his thoughts on MST3K, its Rifftrax spin-off, and the recently blossoming art of making fun of bad (and good) movies seemingly everywhere around the Net. Do give it a look here.

In announcement news today, Anchor Bay has the Blu-ray release of the Ghost in the Shell: 25th Anniversary Edition on 9/30 (SRP $29.99). You can see the artwork left and below. It will include a new HD transfer of the film (1.85:1 aspect ratio) with audio in English DTS-HD MA 5.1 and Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (with English SDH). Additional details on extras (if any) will follow. [Read on here…]

It seems appropriate that I’m sitting here with a VHS copy of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode The Hellcats by my side (and not with the express intention of mentioning it for this article).  Upon the day of the release of the Rifftrax Live show of Sharknado, I felt the urge to throw some of my thoughts and opinions about MST3K and its spin-offs out there just to have a little bit of perspective on the sudden growth in popularity of riffing on movies.  And I already went into a pretty solid amount of detail about the show’s history when I reviewed the Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of the movie of MST3K, so I won’t bother doing any sort of a recap.  Chances are high that if you’re reading this article, you’re a fan of the show. So let’s just dive into it. [Read on here...]

We’ve got a few more new announcements for you today, but first Tim Salmons here at The Bits has posted a new Blu-ray review, looking at Scream Factory’s recent Lake Placid: Collector’s Edition. Do check it out.

Also today, our own Russell Hammond has updated the Release Dates & Artwork section for the week, featuring all the latest Blu-ray and DVD cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon after clicking to them through our links goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we appreciate it. [Read on here…]

As promised, we’re kicking things off today with Bud Elder’s new View from the Cheap Seats column, in which he details the history of John Wayne’s The Alamo and the sad state of affairs regarding MGM’s apparent lack of interest in preserving the film properly. It’s well worth reading and includes some new technical details on the condition of the film from Robert Harris. Don’t miss it.

Also today, Todd Doogan checks in with this week’s Doogan’s Queue, running down the latest Blu-ray and DVD titles in stores today. [Read on here…]

July is here and that means only one thing – San Diego Comic-Con is in the air. So many executives and filmmaking superstars, comic book artists & writers, bloggers, journalists and all the important personal friends they can get on the VIP lists for tickets flood the streets of that great SoCal city fighting to be the first that sees a trailer, buys an expensive book, toy and/or commissions a head sketch of their favorite superhero for 800 bucks. Ah, sweet, sweet commerce. And you know, there may even be a few legitimate fans if they were fast enough to get the 300 tickets available for them. Everyone else can just cosplay and stand around the Gaslamp Quarter waiting for trolleys to pass while girls in hot shorts hand out postcards to music venues with a mild sci-fi theme. You might think I hold this event in distain – I don’t. I’m just calling in what it is. And I wouldn’t miss it for the world. And with that, let’s look at this week’s releases to disc media, shall we? [Read on here…]

Afternoon, folks. Hope you all had a great holiday weekend.

Today’s update is going to be a quick one, as we’re working on a big new View from the Cheap Seats column from our own Bud Elder that we expect to have up tomorrow afternoon. So be sure to watch for it. [Read on here…]

Anybody know a good screenwriter? Here’s true scenario that would offer a perfect studio pitch.

And it’s a thriller, in a way, with a determined adventurer racing against time to seek justice for a hero from a past generation – one who sacrificed finances, reputation and goodwill to slay a dragon that was, in the long run, perhaps beyond even his reach.

This story is about John Wayne. This story is about Robert Harris. This story is about America and the importance of its cultural maintenance. And, ok, it’s also about personal obsession. Duke Wayne did what he said. No backing out. No cutting corners. No half assed. [Read on here...]